Diving Bat Islands from Flamingo?

[Qtpie54346]

We are still deciding on our hotel for our trip Oct. 10-14 to somewhere along the beaches in Guanacaste. We were leaning towards Hilton Papagayo because we wanted a nice all-inclusive, but now I'm thinking of Flamingo or maybe Tamarindo instead...

We definitely want to dive the Catalinas as well as Bat Island, but it seems that the dive ops in Flamingo don't offer Bat Island trips. Any suggestions?

I also tend to get a little sea-sick so I was thinking Flamingo's proximity to the Catalinas was nice for a short boat trip. Obviously the boat ride to the Bats will be much longer, but I can stick it out as long as I'm in for some incredible diving.

Any help with hotels or dive ops would be appreciated!

 

[ScubaSam]

I'm not familiar with the hotels you've mentioned. When I was in Costa Rica, I stayed and dived with Ocotal Beach resort which was not an all-inclusive at the time I stayed with them. I just did a search for their website so I could paste the link in here and their website says New All Inclusive Resort, Room Rates Ocotal Beach Resort & Hotel Costa Rica

Ocotal Dive shop required divers to do some local dives with them first so they can assess your skill level before they allow you to dive Catalina and Bats Islands. We had a mother and son pair on the local dives with poor buoyancy control. Their fins were always kicking up the bottom and they kept running into things so they were not allowed on any Ocotal boats headed out to Catalina and Bats.

It's a long boat ride out to Bats and once at the site, it's a hot drop when you jump off the boat else you'll get swept into the rocks. Also, I believe it depends on what time of the year you go whether the shop will go to Bats or not. I was there in July 2008 so their policies may be different now.

Bats was worth the trip, I saw seven bull sharks on the first dive there, second dive no bull sharks. :depressed: At the Catalina dive, we saw lots of white-tip sharks during the dive. A HUGE manta ray swam under us during our safety stop. Best safety stop to date.

Good luck with whichever hotel and op you eventually decide on. Safe dives.

 

[dolesorchard]

We have used El Ocotal Resort for diving and the are top notch. We have also used Costa Rica Diving in Flamingo and they were good as well, and significantly cheaper. I know they both do the Bats Islands, when conditions are favorable. We are usually there in January or February and it is too rough for the boat trip to the Bat Islands. From Flamingo, it is a short trip to the Catalinas and even if you do a trip to the Bats, most of your diving will probably be at the Catalinas. It is a long trip from El Ocotal to the Catalinas, well over an hour. I would recommend staying near Flamingo and if you go to the Bats it would be one long boat trip instead of every trip being a long one.

 

[armemo]

ocotal its a nice option.

So if you have to keep in mind is that no one has regular departures to the Catalina Islands, only when they have enough divers, at least 4

 

[dolesorchard]

El Ocotal does not have regular dives to the Catalinas and they charge significantly more for those dives. The shops in the Flamingo are dive there every day.

 

[dweissnj]

If you are looking for all inclusive, a good choice would be the Westin Playa Conchal. Its in the next town over from Flamingo, which as you say is the shortest boat trip to the Cats. I use both Pacific Coast Divers and Aquacenter, out of the Flamingo Beach and Flamingo Marina Resorts. Both are good operations. The operators will arrange pickup at the resort. To dive the Bats from there is a couple hour car ride, then boat. Expect low viz with the rainy season.

 

[jnowak100]

I stayed in Playas del Coco, Guanacaste, CR 8/1/11 - 8/9/11 diving with Rich Coast Diving, in that week, I took 3 trips to the Bat Islands, saw bull sharks every time. Also on some local dives tortuga site, saw white tip sharks as well as rays, eels and lots of other stuff. Highly recommend Rich Coast and they can set you up with a high end resort like Bosque del Mar, Playa Hermosa the next beach north, where they also have a dive shop. I stayed at Toro Blanco, $30/night for a studio apartment really very nice for the price and ate at a lot of local restaurants, very inexpensive. for diving, I would definitely recommend Rich Coast, and they do provide valet service with the gear, although I admit that I am a "don't touch my junk" kind of diver. Very friendly and very experienced staff.

 

[Didje]

I stayed in Playas del Coco, Guanacaste, CR 8/1/11 - 8/9/11 diving with Rich Coast Diving, in that week, I took 3 trips to the Bat Islands, saw bull sharks every time. Also on some local dives tortuga site, saw white tip sharks as well as rays, eels and lots of other stuff. Highly recommend Rich Coast and they can set you up with a high end resort like Bosque del Mar, Playa Hermosa the next beach north, where they also have a dive shop. I stayed at Toro Blanco, $30/night for a studio apartment really very nice for the price and ate at a lot of local restaurants, very inexpensive. for diving, I would definitely recommend Rich Coast, and they do provide valet service with the gear, although I admit that I am a "don't touch my junk" kind of diver. Very friendly and very experienced staff.

+1 on Rich Coast Diving! I wanna go baaaaaaaaaack!

 

[ibj40]

We stayed at what is now the Hilton Papagayo a couple of years ago, and the on-site dive op took us to both the Bats and the Cats. Have you contacted Resort Divers?

This is a pic of a Bull Shark from our trip to Bat Island:



:cool2:

 

[samtihen]

That bull shark looks fat.